Cummins Ridge

What a great day at the coast. On the way to Cummins Ridge, the waves were marvelous and the sea lions were frolicking. The five of us drove to the trailhead passing quite a few courteous elk hunters. We started at the upper trailhead and hiked through mixed old growth and second growth hemlocks and Douglas firs. The understory changed from salal to sword ferns ... maybe based on the steepness of the slopes. After an hour we stopped and cleared trail encroaching salal for an hour ... with a half hour lunch break in the middle. Then we continued hiking down the ridge. The only wildlife we saw was a grouse and a deer. At the three mile mark, the trail changes to an old road bed encroached with alders and mosses. The leader turned around and went back up the trail to drive the car to the lower trailhead. The ladies continued to the lower trailhead and started hiking down the road to meet me... so they put in seven miles... The mist rolled in obscuring the views of the ocean from the ridge. But since it only rained briefly, we considered it a dry day.